In some alignment surgeries, stainless steel wires are passed under the lamina, through the spinal canal, and tightened around spinal rods in a segmental manner. The wires are attached to rods progressively and segmentally in a method which reduces the distance between the curved spine and the contoured spinal rod.
Although this method is mostly effective, the passage of wires into the spinal canal has been reported as a source of clinical complications, both intra-operatively and post-operatively.
What is needed are methods and apparatus which permit attachment of vertebrae to a spinal rod without passing wires into the spinal canal. The present invention provides these methods and apparatus in novel and unobvious ways.